My preparation for a run

This week in Pondicherry i will be attempting my 4th half marathon. Frankly there is just one thing that motivates me to travel a 1000 kms and spend 10k to run 15 km and walk about 6, i.e the company of likeminded fools.

Everyone has their own reasons to run. For most people its the thrill of going beyond what they thought was possible for them to accomplish. Everyone has atleast one story in their lives where someone pushed them beyond their mind instructed limits.

I had a cricket coach called Kiran Ashar. An ex-ranji player, he was one of the best coaches i have ever seen. He was a thorough task master from the old school.

His pet exercise was spot jumping. Its a simple technique, simply start jumping wherever you are not too high, about the same height you would if you were skipping. Do not try any variations such as spot jogging on skipping on one knee. They simply distribute the strain on different muscles. Just make sure that you land on both your feet at the same time and your knees are slightly bent.

Try doing this for 5 minutes on day 1 and 15 minutes on day 2 , 30 minutes by week 2 and 1 hour by week 3. Practise this on alternate days. Trust me on this its much tougher than it appears. When you start doing this in the beginning, your mind starts playing games with you. A sudden itch in the head, the desire to go to the loo. A pain in the knee that seems to disappear every time you ignore it. Very similar to what you go through while running on marathon day.

It is said Pete Sampras during his playing days would do this before he begins his exercise. Its an amazing technique to strengthen your calves and eliminate the chance of injury. On a long run the first muscle that begins to give way is the calves and this exercise would ensure that your run would atleast not be halted due to lack of calf power.

I still do this as a substitute for real marathon training. A week before the run just ensure that your legs are fit enough to take the punishment on the run. Here's to you Kiran Sir. Thanks for tolerating me for those 2 years!